Launching today, UnLtdWorld claims to be a social networking site with a higher purpose, encouraging its users to be 'social entrepreneurs' by working on projects that will have a positive impact on their communities.

Started as part of the six-year old UnLtd foundation, UnLtdWorld employs five staff based in London and Oxford.

Social network manager Alberto Nardelli explains more about the UnLtdWorld philosophy and how it plans to reach tens of thousands of people.

Alberto Nardelli, social network manager of UnLtdWorld

• Explain your business to my Mum. "UnLtdWorld connects socially-minded people and helps them make a positive impact in the real world."

• What's your background?"My personal background has always been connected to online social media, empowering individuals and meaningfully using technology, this has ranged from start-ups to international organisations, and from working with large technology companies to UN policy process.

"UnLtdWorld uniquely intersects with these areas as it provides social entrepreneurs, with a platform to make an even greater difference in the real world and in positively impacting the many challenges facing humanity today."

• How do you make money?"We have developed a business model for UntdWorld around premium services, access to historical and comparative research, and targeted services that dynamically connect and match social entrepreneurs, organisations, the broader public and content.

• Are we in the middle of a new dot com bubble?"In short, no. There is definitely lots of speculation, and ideas which don't make much sense but are receiving millions in investment - that is very reminiscent of the dot com bubble.

"Making money, like making a difference, is not easy. The solid ideas, which generated durable value, are still around. Similar dynamics are probably happening today, with valuations exceeding value. What this demonstrates, though, is the need for the investment community to radically change where it decides to place their efforts, and for entrepreneurs and businesses to profoundly reflect on their purpose - less on spreadsheets, more on the driving factors that create value."

• How many users do you have now, and what's your target within 12 months?"After a few weeks since opening the site up, UnLtdWorld is nearing 1500 members, with one in three visiting every day. Our target for the next 12 months is to reach tens of thousands of individuals."

• What's your biggest challenge?"As for all social networks, the biggest challenge will be to retain the current depth and relevancy while scaling up. When engaging with a mass audience, sites tend to reach a crossroad, tipping either negatively or positively and with UnLtdWorld, our challenge is to measure the social impact of our work. We're working closely with partners on creating models to do this."

• Name your competitors."We plan to unveil an open platform strategy that will offer the opportunity for partners to build targeted applications for the community or on top of existing functionality. Members will be able to leverage on the network and functionality for external developments and interoperate with other social networks.

"Many potential competitors will actually be partnering with us on this collaborative strategy."

• If you had £10m to invest in another web business, what would you invest in?"In any business which clearly has the potential to use community and networks to make a market more efficient, and at the same time have a positive impact."

• Where do you want the company to be in five years?"The aim is for UnLtdWorld to be widely recognised as having added clear value to social entrepreneurs and all those working to create social and environmental value. We want that to to help the sector better achieve its goals, and by doing so to have helped to make the world a better place."

• Are you the next big thing?"The next big thing will be about leveraging community, market and network dynamics to radically effect change in deeply positive ways. There are already hints of this potential: the majority of funding raised by Barack Obama last month was through donations of less than $100 showing impact happening from the bottom up in a political process.

"The one thing that all these initiative have in common is that they empower people. UnLtdWorld is based on the idea that many different individuals can come together, learn from each other, share inspiration and make a big impact in the world in which we live. Social entrepreneurship is the next big thing and will change the way that many people do business and think about business opportunities - the kind of capitalism that Bill Gates called for at the World Economic Forum.

"This is where UnLtdWorld aims to position itself - by supporting those at the forefront of this shift."